How the Line held
J. Enoch Powell
THE BEN LINE, 1825-1982: AN ANECDOTAL HISTORY by Michael Strachan Michael Russell, £17.95, pp. 248 Michael Strachan, the brother officer who coached me to drive a 30-cwt-lorri, across the North African desert in I.94f and bequeathed his account of the experl" ence to literature, had two peacetinle careers — one as the employee, partner and eventually chairman of a Scottish shipping tine, the Ben Line, and the other as a historian of early English contacts Orli,. India by way of definitive biographies 01. Coryat and Sir Thomas Roe. He was well qualified to write another biography — that of a family shipping cony pany through 177 years of its history. I a01 not sure it was wise to dismiss itself aS 'anecdotal', enjoyable though it may be learn that sacks of West Indian grounu- nuts can be economically stowed in the evening after the day's WI had ended, by steaming full ahead and full astern, to shake them down all make room for more.
The subtitle underestimates the seriousness of the contribution to economic history.
The successive owners of the firm Present themselves as grey men, dourly Scottish; and the anatomy of office life in such an employment is probably typical enough. But a picture of British enterprise culture emerges recognisable from the biography, reflecting how technological change has been reluctantly yet successfully absorbed.
The sail-powered merchant fleets before steam power came had to contend with an aPpallingly high loss rate from storm and fire and sustained a vigorous market in second-, third- and fourth-hand vessels. The clippers and their slower sisters were decidedly expendable and marketable.
With steam and the ability of steam- driven vessels to stay clear of the dreaded lee shore and, if need be, to sail in reverse, it at -last became possible to build up steadily a fleet of customer-built, larger vessels and compete successfully with big- ger undertakings like P & 0. It turned out that in the era of the steam-powered merchant fleet the great enemy was going tu be war. Out of 20 ships which the Ben Line owned in September 1939 all but seven were destroyed by enemy action, with 1°ss of life mounting as high as 410 in a single vessel. That the Line battled through to prosper in the new era of the container shit) is tribute enough to the toughness, courage and adaptability of what remained throughout basically a family concern. Founded originally upon coal exports !Hid imports of building stone, it moved tri)m the North Atlantic to the Far East, following the rise of Britain's Indian, Aus- tralasian and China trade. Tramp shiPping, picking up opportunity cargoes °fl the spot, it never was; but the funda- mental division of management between °inward bound cargo and homeward bound cargo points to the secret of the strength and resilience which enabled the Line to survive, depending on the decentralised bac, tfInen of private enterprise and the flexi- le response of its merchant owners.
Antiquated and slow, the seven ships which survived the second world war were reaching the end of their useful lives. It May have been the proverbial godsend in disguise.
v Turbine and turbo-electric ships with ,Ileir enhanced speeds bridged the gap "feiween the war and the coming of the f;ontainer era. In the course of 1972-1981 the role of the conventional cargo liner was virtually eliminated. For some British ship- Ping companies it was to mean the end of their existence as recognisable entities.
'How the Ben Line faced these chal- tejlges and either anticipated or overcame trill' raises the company's biography from `le Pedestrian to the epic level. The story Makes a textbook on the natural history of Private enterprise.
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